Just A Dream
by SinsofMidnight
Summary: Cloud's only happiness seems to be in his dreams. Commission from DarkOblivion926 on dA. Rated T for some situations, but it has no need of a higher rating.One shot, posted in three pieces.
1. The Dream

**Just a Dream**

_**Fandom:** Final Fantasy VII_

_**Teaser:** " Just a dream inside my head/that I wasn't alone in this empty bed. "_

_**Inspiration:** The first little poem you'll see in text inspired the direction_

_Commission from DarkOblivion926 ^^_

_**Rating: **T. Fairly mild compared to some of the crap I've written_

_**Warnings:  
**-Dreams  
-Angst  
-Saddness  
-Sugary-sweetness…_

_**Main Pairing: **-Zack/Cloud_

_**Setting: **Around Advent Children. Probably directly before it._

_**POV:** Cloud shares his side, then Zack speaks from beyond his grave. _

_**Additional ANs:** The two short poems used in the story are mine. The last line Zack says is most of a quote from "The Princess Bride"._

* * *

"Hey, Chocobo."

The voice startled me out of the darkness of my thoughts. I looked up to see him smiling at me from a few feet away in a meadow full of pale flowers and sunshine.

My jaw dropped, inevitably, as my restless feet carried me swiftly to his side. "Zack."

His expression grew concerned. "What's wrong, Cloud?"

I shook my head to push it all from my mind and to cement myself in the now of things. "It's nothing. I've missed you."

He laughed heartily. "Oh, have you? Perhaps I should make up for that." Leaning in, he pressed his lips against mine gently, lightly, like he was afraid I would fall all to pieces.

It was I that drew him closer, I that slanted my head and persuaded him to deepen and lengthen our kiss. As an inevitable consequence of that decision, our clothing fell away piece by piece as we sought to connect in the most basic way. He had my naked, slighter form pressed between his strong body and the bed of fragrant, soft grasses before I even caught my breath.

"Ah, Cloud, I've missed you, too, he murmured, dropping light kisses on my jawline. "Every hour of every day, I missed you.

I shivered under his attentions. "Well then stop missing me and be with me," I commanded him softly, as if it were all that easy, as if the distance between our souls was so easily bridged.

He gave me that familiar goofy smile. "Impatient, much?"

I embraced him fully with my arms, dragging his head down into the grasses but allowing myself to catch the scent of sunshine and laughter with a hint of ginger and an underlying current of pure _Zack_. "I missed you so much," I whispered in his ear.

"I know." He sighed. "I know. But you have to miss me for a bit longer, Cloudy."

* * *

**To be continued. Soon.**

**It's all actually written already. I just thought that the best way to present this short fiction and build suspense would be to post in in three parts.**

**So keep your peepers peeled for the next two parts~**

**Love you all,**

**~Sins~  
**


	2. His Reality

**I know, I'm a heartless, cruel bitch for posting this one this way, but it makes sense this way. You'll understand it in the end...**

* * *

I sat straight up in bed, gasping and suddenly wide awake. A thin sheen of sweat clung damply to my chest as I tried to regulate my breathing and calm my heartbeat to a more normal rate and location –the way it was currently pounding in my throat was uncomfortable and disconcerting.

I had dreamed it up. It had all been a damn dream.

But I could _feel_ his hands on me. I could _smell_ the grass, the flowers, and _him_. I turned my head and caught a whiff of sunshine and ginger. My hands quickly moved to capture the silent tears before they became a silent flood or worse.

I cursed my mind under my breath. After so many years, my brain still conjured up fantasies in which my lover hadn't really died.

But I had been there when he died. I could clearly remember the way he hugged me once last time, the way his blood felt on my skin as he bled, the way his voice sounded as he spoke to me as he lay dying. I could still remember the feeling of loss and utter hopelessness when he had died there. I could still remember just how _worthless_ I felt, since I had been nothing but a burden that day.

Yet my mind persisted in tormenting me with these _dreams_.

"Zack," I whispered, as though he could hear me, as though he were beside me in this all-too-empty bed. "Why did you have to leave me all alone?"

All alone but for those damned dreams.

It was no wonder I woke up wishing for a man long-dead to hold me.

* * *

_Just a dream inside my head_

_that I wasn't alone in this empty bed,_

_that you were right beside me,_

_that through it all you would hide me_

_and hold me tenderly to you,_

_your precious treasure forever true._

_But it was all_

_just a dream…_

* * *

_**Yes, this is really sad. I wrote it all last night and wanted to cry myself to sleep.**_


	3. The Reality of Things

**This story is really sad... I apologize, but it is what my commissioner wished...**

* * *

Why couldn't I just let him go? Why couldn't I just let my memory become just that and allow him to move on?

I'd asked myself these questions countless times since I'd discovered a way to slip into his dreams. I'd finally decided that _I_ couldn't let _him_ go, not without finally finding the guts to tell him I loved him. But each time I went to him in his dreams with that intention, my desire to hold him and love him overwhelmed me and I couldn't seem to form the words in a way he could hear and understand.

So I'd go back into those dreams, from now until eternity or as long as it took me to work up the courage to tell him how much he meant to me.

But as I him cry when he work up, I had to wonder how I could be so damn _selfish_.

That was, until I heard him ask the empty room, "Zack, why did you have to leave me all alone?"

That was when I understood the reason why he cried: not for _remembering _me, but for only seeing me in his dreams.

To me, that mean I couldn't stop visiting him, even after I finally confessed to him. I couldn't leave him alone in his sleep, not after seeing how _waking_ into the cold reality affected him.

After all, death can't stop true love. It can only delay it for a bit.

* * *

_I can't be just a memory_

_any more than you can let me_

_because true love never dies,_

_it's just delayed for a time._

_So when eternity comes to meet you,_

_I'll be here to greet you._

_Until then, know I love you,_

_my precious treasure forever true._

* * *

**Yes, that is the sad closure to this story.**

**As for the poems, think of them as love notes: the first from Cloud, the second from Zack.**

**Let me know how you liked it, or how much you wished it could have a happy ending...  
**


End file.
